Renacci pulls ahead of Sutton in race for Ohio 9th Congressional District

First term Republican Congressman Jim Renacci of Wadsworth inched ahead of Democrat Betty Sutton, 51 percent to 49 percent, with more than 161,000 votes cast in the heated 9th District Congressional race.

Renacci held about a 4,000-vote lead, passing Sutton 82,000 votes to 78,000.

The gerrymandered district covers all of Wayne County, and stretches through sections of Cuyahoga, Medina, Summit, Portage and Stark counties.

Jim RenacciPlain Dealer File Photo

Both candidates have blue-collar roots and extensive private sector experience. Renacci, 53, a former car dealer, pledges to cut taxes and restrict government oversight of the private sector. Sutton, 49, a labor lawyer, supports raising taxes on the rich to pay for training, infrastructure and other investments designed to make businesses and their employees more productive.

The other congressional races weren't nearly so close.

Fifteen-term U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo took a commanding lead over her Republican opponent, Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, leading 70 percent to 26 percent with more than 124,000 votes cast in the 9th District.

Kaptur crushed eight-term Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland to advance from the primary election for the right to represent the new 9th Congressional District -- an unusual gerrymandered configuration that hugs the Lake Erie coastline for 100 miles from Cleveland's West Side to Toledo.

Longtime Geauga County Prosecutor David Joyce, a Republican, continued to hold a comfortable lead over Democrat Dale Virgil Blanchard, 56 percent to 37 percent. They are seeking to replace the retired nine-term incumbent Steve LaTourette in the 14th District.

LaTourette appeared to be an easy winner for a 10th term, but frustration with partisan gridlock in Congress caused him to step down once his term ends in January. Joyce's opponent is Democrat Dale Virgil Blanchard, 55, an accountant from Solon making his ninth run for Congress. Blanchard turned down several reported attempts to have him voluntarily withdraw from the race in favor of a more formidable candidate.

And first-term Republican Bob Gibbs, a Holmes County farmer, continued to lead Democrat Joyce Healy-Abrams, a Canton business owner, in early returns in the 18th District, 60 percent to 40 percent, with more than 147,000 votes cast.

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